Costello’s Facebook post showing the animal on the back of a truck, secured only with a rope, has been shared more than 1,300 times as of this writing.

Costello realized why three cars slammed on their brakes in front of the vehicle she was in on 59 when she and her family passed the pickup truck just outside Corrigan. Costello said the pickup truck was traveling about 55 mph, the horse’s hooves were halfway off the truck bed.

Costello, herself a daughter of ranchers, said she’s never seen anything like it, “not even in the deepest South I’ve ever been.”

“There were no hazard lights on,” she said. “No tailgate.”

“Anybody who knows anything about horses knows they have embedded in their mind a fight or flight response,” Costello continued. “(I thought) anything spooks this horse, (and it’s) a danger to this horse, this driver, the other people on the road and me and my husband and our two 5-year-olds in our car. This could have been a very dangerous situation.”

Costello said other drivers spotted – and photographed – the animal tied precariously atop the pickup truck and have inundated her Facebook page with comments and concern about the animal.

Costello said many have actually come to the man’s defense, saying it’s how animals were once transported.

One person in the comments on Costello’s post wrote, “Back in the old days this is how they hauled horses my grandpa has pictures of horses be hauled like this on the family farm.”

Another replied, “The same old days where they didn’t use car seats for kids either? There’s a reason things change.”

Costello said she received additional photos from people who also saw the pickup truck, and it appears that law enforcement eventually did stop the vehicle and take the horse into Animal Control custody. KPRC is working to confirm that information. The Corrigan Police chief told KPRC he would call back with more information, but the station has not heard back yet.